Lenawee County Jail inmate died of slashing wounds

Self-inflicted slashing wounds are the cause of the Nov. 13 death of a Lenawee County Jail inmate, according to a news release issued late Friday by Sheriff Jack Welsh.

A sheriff’s department investigation of the death of Daniel Terry Pitts is ongoing, Welsh stated, but the cause of the 34-year-old Clinton man’s death has been established.

Corrections staff discovered Pitts in the act of harming himself at 12:10 a.m., according the news release.

“He had to be restrained and disarmed by jail staff. He was immediately treated by jail staff and jail medical staff until EMS arrived and took over,” the release stated. Pitts was transported to ProMedica Bixby Hospital where attempts to resuscitate him failed.

“Mr. Pitts was not found dead in his cell,” Welsh stated in the news release. Foul play is not suspected.

Pitts had been in jail since his arrest on Jan. 4 on multiple charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for alleged abuse of a girl in Clinton. He had been scheduled for trial in January.